The Pressure For, and Downsides of, Striking Big in Syria

The long windup to a potential military strike at Syria is increasing the pressure on the Obama administration to make any action big and meaningful—though going big also carries risks of drawing the U.S. in deeper than the administration may want.
That, at least, is the picture that emerges from a conversation with Aaron David Miller, a former Middle East negotiator for both Republican and Democratic presidents who now is a vice president at the Woodrow Wilson Center.
Congress, of course, hasn’t yet authorized a strike, as President Barack Obama has asked it to do, and the prospects of winning an authorization resolution appear dicey right now in the House.